FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — Melissa Custance returned to her home in Fond du Lac Tuesday for the first time without her 7-year-old son, to a home she says just doesn’t feel the same.
"[It’s] very empty, because of the car seat still being in the car, or his booster seat and everything,” Melissa said.
David Custance had just finished first grade at Pier Elementary School.
Melissa said he was an energetic kid who loved the outdoors.
“He loved to go fishing. He liked to pick up any insect, any small animal that he could,” Melissa said.
David had big plans.
"I think he said he wanted to be an astronaut," his sister, 13-year-old Alexis said.
Now, David's family is coping with his sudden death.
"[It's] the hardest thing you could ever do because no parent should be putting their kid to rest before they are," Melissa said.
David was struck by a vehicle on the 500 block of east pioneer road while playing outside with his older sister last Friday.
“My middle child Brianna… called me and told me that David got hit by a car,” Melissa said. “And then I just grabbed the first pair of shorts that I could and I started running right down, or down the, the downstairs…I kind of screamed and I told Lexi, 'David got hit by a car.'”
He was flown to the Milwaukee Children's Hospital, where he later died of his injuries.
Melissa stayed by his side for three agonizing days.
"Nope, I stayed right there by his bed. I slept in the most squeaky chair ever.”
The family said the loss is especially hard on David's sisters- Alexis and 11-year-old Brianna.
"My sister's doing rough,” Alexis said. “I hear her screaming every once in a while in her sleep."
Now, the family is facing the unimaginable.
"We just got to figure out how we're gonna, how we're gonna make it without his little energetic voice in the living room,” Melissa said.
They have a GoFundMeto raise money for a celebration of David's life and have now raised more than 7,000 dollars.
"It's amazing how everyone donated and helped us out because nobody knows what everybody's going through,” Melissa said.
